I've always created things in one way or another... as a kid it was stories and artwork, games, forts, even building my own toys in some cases. Now after a decade of full-time creating as a photography and design freelancer, I’ve started to return to my first loves: writing and illustrating. It felt like coming home. Children’s books had such a profound impact on me as a kid so that has been a natural outlet.

Congrats on your awesome Kidlit411 banner design. Tell us what inspired you and how you approached the illustration.

Thank you! Most of the characters in that illustration are ones I felt like I grew up with, in a way. I was kind of a disconnected, day-dreamy kid and books helped me approach the world. I still find their journeys relevant and helpful for my inanely grownup-ish struggles.

I wanted the child with the book to lead the procession because I feel like that’s what quality kid lit has the ability to do for a kid... offer a sense of control, of explanation, of a home, for a child who perhaps doesn't have those things otherwise.

What is your illustration process (medium, etc.)?

I've always illustrated with pen and ink and/or watercolors, but I’ve moved to drawing with a tablet within the last couple of years. My photography experience with light and composition have influenced me a lot in this new medium. I still find pencil sketching and watercolors the most relaxing, though.

My process changes as I learn more and try to incorporate new elements and practices. Right now it looks something like this:

-Sometimes I'll add linework to the main characters and sometimes I prefer to rely on the shapes alone. I lean toward a more messy look with visible brush strokes and stray lines, but I'm trying to challenge myself to create a neat and clean final image without going into the too-polished, HD-looking realm.

Lately I've been experimenting with adding additional mystery/story to a nearly-finished piece by shrouding some of the view with foreground items, like the large leaves and the rain in this example, or adding secret "easter eggs" in the background just because it delights me to find those little things in the works of other illustrators I admire.

I am in the querying trenches! I wrote and illustrated a picture book a few years ago and queried, receiving all form rejections very quickly. Since then I’ve really dug in and educated myself on the querying process, the industry, and the standards and best practices I hadn’t even known about the first time, so I do feel better prepared this time around.

I have three picture book dummies complete, I'm revising the one based on some great agent feedback, and I'm working on the dummies for two more new ones. I've also been writing a middle grade adventure novel about the friendship and tension between a big family kid and a foster kid, set on the reefs and beaches where I grew up.

I am a Superintrovert. INFJ. If it weren’t for my family I would probably live in a remote mountainside cabin in the Alps and raise goats and make cheese and write very long-winded stories about nature. There would be no internet and it would be glorious.

Elizabeth Lampman Davis is a freelance writer, editor, and illustrator based in Florida. She works with clients who value authenticity and creativity (and an occasional dash of cynical humor). She has a special interest and joy in writing about small business, foster care and adoption, travel, and all things outdoors. If she could write sonnets all day about her love affair with coffee, she would. Most of all, she lives to create.